UNLV is pleased to announce Dr. Marc J. Kahn as the new dean of the School of Medicine. He is currently a senior associate dean at Tulane University School of Medicine and was selected following a national search for the position. He takes his post at UNLV on April 1.
“Dr. Kahn is an experienced leader and innovator who will continue the upward trajectory of our UNLV School of Medicine,” said UNLV President Marta Meana. “We were extremely pleased with the high caliber of candidates who stepped forward to lead the school, which speaks to its growing positive reputation across the country.”
Dr. Kahn takes over for Interim Dean Dr. John Fildes, inaugural chair of the UNLV School of Medicine Department of Surgery and world-renowned trauma surgeon. Dr. Fildes had assumed the role in September, stepping in as Founding Dean Dr. Barbara Atkinson transitioned into an advisory leadership role with the school.
“I am very grateful to Dr. John Fildes for his steadfast leadership and for carrying our vision forward as interim dean,” Meana said. “He continues to be a tremendous asset and a deeply respected professor and surgeon in our school and in this community.”
Dr. Kahn said he was drawn to UNLV because he believes the future of great medical education in the United States will be driven by newer medical schools that can truly innovate as they develop.
“Throughout my career, I have been passionate about developing and accessing novel programs in medical education at both the student and faculty level,” he said. “The UNLV School of Medicine is in a prime position to innovate as it grows and become a national leader.”
The UNLV School of Medicine, which welcomed its first class in July of 2017, now totals 180 medical students and nearly 335 residents and fellows. At UNLV Medicine, the school’s clinical arm, 150 faculty physicians see approximately 10,000 patients per month at 19 specialty medical clinics.
In addition to his medical training, Dr. Kahn has an MBA with concentrations in finance and international business. At Tulane, he was instrumental in developing the school’s four-year medical MBA program and its BS/MD program, which includes a mandatory year of public service with AmeriCorps VISTA.
At UNLV, he will focus on developing programs that emphasize “adaptive knowledge.”
“Rather than merely learning a set of facts of figures, with information being readily available electronically, medical students need to learn how to apply existent knowledge to new and unique circumstances,” he said.
Dr. Kahn noted opportunities at UNLV to develop collaborative medical programs with teams that include nurses, dentists, social workers and others. Such teams could promote primary care through experiential learning, create research programs that focus on population health, and work with the diverse population of Nevada to solve the most pressing healthcare problems in the region.
Prior to his role as senior associate dean at Tulane, Dr. Kahn served as director of the MD/MBA Program, chief of staff at Tulane University Hospital and Clinic, and as medical director of the Tulane Physician’s Organization. He was also chief medical resident at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in the early days of the AIDS epidemic.
In September, he was one of only a few physicians not trained in the United Kingdom to be elected as a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London, which is the oldest medical college in England. He has won numerous teaching and speaking awards. In 2018, he was named a Master of the American College of Physicians.
Dr. Kahn, who is married and has two children, has served on numerous professional medical boards and committees, and currently serves on hematology board for the American Board of Internal Medicine and as chair of the American Society of Hematology Committee on Educational Affairs.
